The room where it happened was a studio at Hubbard Street Dance Center in Chicago’s West Loop, home of Hubbard Street Dance. Since Hamilton has landed in Chicago, Miranda stopped by to speak with his college friend and Hubbard Street Director of External Affairs Suzanne Appel about the musical, his career, his journey with dance, and the importance of arts education in his life.

“The impact of arts education on my career is complete, total, and it saved my life. I had the good fortune to go to a magnet school in New York called Hunter and I went there from elementary through high school. There, my life was really changed by an elementary school music teacher named Barbara Ames. She and our shop teacher, Robert Sherman, would direct the sixth grade play. It started when Barbara first arrived at Hunter and that was when I was in kindergarten; so the accident of timing could not be more perfect.